Who is My Neighbor?

In Luke chapter 10, Jesus had an encounter with a certain attorney, who thought he was doing OK in living his life, but Jesus showed him otherwise.   Let's pick up in verse 25 And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life ?" 26 And He said to him, "What is written in the Law ? How does it read to you?" 27 And he answered, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND ; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." 28 And He said to him, "You have answered correctly ; DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE." 29 But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor ?"  Jesus then told the story of the Good Samaritan, depicting a wounded man - two people walked by, the other tended to his needs and attempted to facilitate healing and restoration.   Jesus said:  in verse 36: "Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers' hands?" 37 And he said, "The one who showed mercy toward him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do the same."

Great question for us today - who is our neighbor?   And what makes a good neighbor?   That is not limited to where you live, but it does include geographical location.   So, are you a lighthouse in your neighborhood - do you choose to show charity to those in the location God has placed you?


The real estate website Zillow has released a new survey.  The annual poll asks U.S. adults which celebrities they would most like to be their neighbor, and with whom they wouldn't want to share a fence.  Here are the results:

Most Desirable Neighbors for 2012		Worst Neighbors of 2011
Name	Percent	Name	Percent
Tim Tebow	11	Jersey Shore Cast	28
Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt	10	Charlie Sheen	21
Jennifer Aniston & Justin Theroux	9	Lindsay Lohan	14
Jennifer Lopez	6	Kim Kardashian	13
Beyoncé & Jay-Z	5	Nancy Grace	3
Nancy Grace	4	Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt	3
Kim Kardashian	4	Anthony Weiner	2
Other	11	Other	2
None of the above	42	None of the above	14

No surprise - good for Tim Tebow.   I think it's interesting that Brangelina and Kim Kardashian ended up on both lists.   And, you have 1 married couple and 2 cohabiting couples on the good neighbor list.   Good challenge for us - even if you have neighbors that may not share your values, that doesn't remove our responsibility to be neighborly.    God has called us to show mercy - to demonstrate the fruit of the spirit to people with whom we come in contact.   And, those in your neighborhood present a great place to start.